SAN FRANCISCO - Brands that use promoted tweets are more likely to have their message stay with an audience on Twitter than those marketers that do not, according to a Nielsen executive at the ad:tech San Francisco 2013 conference.

During the "Social ad crash course: How to create great Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn campaigns" session, experts discussed how promoted social media campaigns can give brands a stronger message association. Also, marketers should remember to use hashtags and links in tweets to get the most engagement from consumers on Twitter.

For a brand to create a successful social media campaign it depends on three different tasks: targeting the audience, connecting with the audience and converting the audience to consumers, said Gretchen Fox, social business and emerging media technology consultant at grtchnfx, Los Angeles.

Marketers first need to understand their audience and know which social media platform to engage them on.

Then, marketers should think about how their target consumers use the platform and tailor their posts to the product and the platform.

“It is important to understand where you can find your audience,” Ms. Fox said. “Then you really need to think about how people use your product.

“Then use content in a similar way to how people use your product,” she said.

Another way to get the message out there is by using promoted content.

The example given in the session was how German automaker Porsche used promoted tweets for its 911 vehicle campaign. The automaker compared these promoted tweets to non-promoted tweets using the same campaign.

The results showed that one promoted tweet drives brand lift 300 percent more than a non-promoted tweet does.

Also, one promoted tweet increased followers by 594 percent more than a non-promoted tweet on the day that it was used, per Mr. Beltramo.

In addition, marketers can engage consumers by using branded hashtags on television commercials to carry the conversation over to social media and use real-time marketing to craft messages based on current events to join a larger conversation, he said.

Mr. Beltramo at ad:tech

Starting the conversation

Although many luxury marketers are not yet using promoted tweets, they are engaging in conversations with their social media audience by using hashtags and incorporating real-time events.

For instance, U.S. fashion label Rebecca Minkoff put attendees of its New York Fashion Week show Feb. 8 front and center in the social conversation through a live Twitter backdrop.

During the show, a large display of user tweets and images were shown on the background to the catwalk. The brand also made use of all of its social media platforms to engage consumers and promote its show (see story).

Also, Ford's Lincoln Motor Company continued its rebranding campaign with a television spot during the Super Bowl XLVII broadcast Feb. 3 on CBS that was created using consumers’ Twitter interactions with the host of NBC network’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”

Comedian and late-night host Jimmy Fallon asked his Twitter followers to tweet responses to his questions about unexpected events during road trips. More than 6,000 tweets were used to create the script of the 30-second spot that ran during the game (see story).

Engaging consumers in a conversation on social media will likely help them form a deeper relationship with the brand, especially using branded hashtags when consumers can easily jump into the conversation and explore more if they want to.

“People usually click on the first hashtag or the first link in any post on Twitter,” grtchnfx’s Ms. Fox said.